ISLAMABAD: The Election Commis­sion of Pakistan (ECP) suspended the membership of 154 legislators, including several cabinet members, after the deadline for submission of the annual statement of assets expired on Monday.

The ECP had on Jan 1 released a list of 394 legislators belonging to the National Assembly and Senate, as well as the four provincial assemblies, asking them to submit their statements of assets by Jan 16.

The list includes the names of Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination Fehmida Mirza, Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry, Minister for Maritime Affairs Ali Haider Zaidi and Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui.

Mr Zaidi termed the ECP action “a fuss’ in a tweet, claiming that he had paid his taxes on Dec 28 and submitted the statement of assets to the Election Commission on Jan 5.

Members were required to submit their statements by Jan 16

The three members of the upper house of parliament whose membership stood suspended were Musaddiq Malik, Kamran Michael and Shamim Afridi.

The list contains the names of 48 MNAs, including nine women elected against reserved seats and three elected against the seats reserved for non-Muslims.

The membership of 52 lawmakers in the Punjab Assembly was also suspended. The most prominent among them was Chau­dhary Nisar Ali Khan, who had yet to take oath as an MPA. The assembly has a total of 371 seats, three of which are vacant.

In the Sindh Assembly, the membership of 19 MPAs was suspended. The house has 168 seats, three of which are vacant.

Out of the 145 members in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, 26 did not submit their statements of assets to the ECP. The house has one vacant seat.

Six members of the Balochistan Assembly, out of 65, stood suspended. One seat is vacant there.

The Election Commission referred to Section 137(1) of the Elections Act, 2017, which requires the lawmakers to submit statements of their assets and liabilities, as well as those of their spouses and dependent children, by Dec 31 every year.

“The membership of lawmakers will remain suspended until they submit their statements,’ the ECP said.

Published in Dawn, January 19th, 2021